This guy in Hong Kong claims he fit 20 rooms into a 350-square-foot apartment. He does it with moving walls that expand the space you’re using and minimizes the space you don’t need at the moment. Unfortunately, this isn’t a viable option for our tiny new place, but it’s cool to watch.

$25 :)

Currently reading: “Small Space Solutions” by Libby Langdon, and six other books like it. Apparently, there exist at least seven books just about how to organize a small apartment. Seven! I was shocked that there was even one.

Bucket list

Finally completed the one thing on my bucket list that I needed to get through before leaving Goshen:

I’ve wanted to ride in an Amish buggy ever since I got here. Granted, this is obviously just operated for tourists, but it’s the same vehicle, and it’s pulled by a horse.

If you want to do this, just walk around Shipshewana for 10 minutes. You’ll find a booth on every corner advertising buggy rides. Just don’t go on Sunday. And after 5 (which is when we went) your options are limited, but not completely absent.

Another use for old magazines: sexy wine glass packing.

What to do with 100 old magazines

We had about 100 old magazines laying around our apartment. These have all been accumulated in the last year.

Zach saves them “in case he ever reads them again.” I save them for the recipes inside. Since we have all the extra space in our current apartment, I never minded keeping them in the office. But we’re not moving them.

To save the recipes but dispose of the magazines (don’t worry; I recycled) I tore out every recipe, put them in page protectors and put them in binders. To save money, I tried last year just using a three hole punch, but the pages don’t stay in, and I found I never opened the binder — and therefore never used it — because it was too hard to keep in order.

So this time around I did it right. I finished it about a week ago and so far use the books a ton. We’ll see if it sticks. But it took a ton of time, and I spent more than I wanted to on the page protectors. At first I thought I’d only need 100 (about $7 at Target). No. Try 500.

I had one binder lying around the house, and Zach picked up the other (giant) one at work because they didn’t want it anymore.

Since cooking is my only really hobby, and I’m an organizational nut, I’m glad I did it this way. Not sure if it would be worth the time and effort for most people.

Audrie’s recipes, volumes 1 and 2:

Cleaning out the pantry

We’re 51 days from the move, and I’ve decided to try to slowly start cleaning out our pantry and freezer. Sure, stuff in the pantry can be moved, but we don’t have the money for a rental truck, so space is money.

I had a can of chickpeas in my pantry. The only thing I could think of to do with them is figure out how to make hummus. Turns out, I already had all of the ingredients.

The chickpeas were leftover from a horrible recipe I once tried. I bought two cans, needing only one but figuring I’d make it again someday. Normally if I don’t like a recipe, I figure out what can be changed and try again. Not bothering with this one.

This took all of five minutes, maybe. You just put a can of chickpeas, a clove of garlic (I just use a spoonful of the stuff from the jar), 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of cumin into a blender or food processor. I also added some sesame oil. Then you blend it and sprinkle paprika on top!

We even have some pita chips and celery to eat with it. Yay for cooking without having to shop.

Pretty sure this recipe is from Real Simple.

Project

If you didn’t already know this, Zach and I are moving in oh, about seven weeks.

Up until — today, I guess, it felt like it was going to be forever until we left to go back to school. For some reason today is when the switch flipped from dear-god-mid-August-is-never-going-to-come to oh-my-god-I-only-have-50-days-for-a-million-things-to-go-right.

Moving always sucks, but Zach and I are moving from a two-story, four-bedroom apartment to a tiiiiiiny one-bedroom. The cost is about the same.

What did we do with four bedrooms? We used one to sleep in, one as a dining room, one as a guest room and one as an office. There was also a living room, a huge kitchen and tons of closets. The new place has one closet. And it’s not very big.

On top of that, I hate clutter and disorganization. So we have a lot to do. Also, we have no money, so everything we do has to be cheap or free.

Witness project one: a cabinet that the former owner’s of Zach’s mom’s house left in the basement. I wish I had a before picture. I fixed it up this weekend. It was dark brown (not because of the wood — that was the color of paint) with scratches all over it, obviously. It had no handles. One leg was shorter than the other (something I haven’t fixed — we will just have to prop it up with something).

Since our bathroom will be a decent size, we’ll use this to store towels, toilet paper, etc.

See how nice it looks?

I really wanted a lighter green, but this color was on clearance for $2.89 a quart, which was just enough for the piece. I got the knobs at a decor store in Atlanta in May. They were 75 percent off, so $2.50 each (Can you believe they were originally priced at $10 each??? For cabinet knobs???)